Welcome to the blog of the California Teachers Empowerment Network. CTEN is a non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers and the public at large with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Dear Colleague,

After the Vergara decision last
month, the judge stayed his ruling pending an appeal by the teachers unions.
However, there was still fallout. AB 1619 would have required school districts
with fewer than 250 students to grant tenure to teachers after three years, but
in light of Vergara, the bill died in
the Senate education committee. Campbell Brown, a former CNN anchor who has
become involved with education reform, launched the Partnership for Educational
Justice in New York in December 2013. Inspired by Vergara, she has
identified six children who have agreed to serve as plaintiffs, arguing they
“suffered from laws making it too expensive, time-consuming and burdensome to
fire bad teachers.” And then there was a USC poll, which among other things
found that when asked about California’s teachers unions, “49 percent of voters said they have a
“somewhat or very negative” impact on the quality of K-12 education, with 31
percent saying unions have a “somewhat or very positive” impact.” To read more,
go to http://unionwatch.org/post-vergara-rumblings/

A second legal decision also has the unions livid. On June
30th, the Supreme Court agreed with the National Right to Work Legal
Defense Foundation in Harris v Quinn and ruled that home care workers
could not be forced to join the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Justice Samuel Alito did stop short of throwing out the 1977 Abood decision which allows unions to
require nonmembers to pay fees for collective bargaining, as long as the dues
are not used for ideological or political purposes. However, there is another
case waiting in the wings which could lead the court to throw out Abood and make paying dues to a union
optional nationwide. To read more go to http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/07/01/supreme-court-union-ruling-could-give-strength-to-teacher-suit?

In the April letter
we told you about a pending bill, AB 215, which was signed into law on June 25th
by Governor Brown. The law streamlines the discipline and appeals
process by expediting cases of serious misconduct, those involving sexual
abuse, child abuse and certain drug offenses. While the legislation has its
critics, it would seem to be an improvement over the mess that existed before.
To read the new law, go to http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB215

The Common Core
debate still rages. With accusations flying from both sides, it’s important –
as best as possible – to keep your eyes on the facts. Joy Pullman, research fellow of The Heartland Institute and managing editor of School Reform News, has some harrowing
information about the costs of CCSS for Californians. She writes,

Back
in 2011, the California Department of Education estimated phasing in the
national curriculum and testing mandates would cost almost $760 million. In
2013, lawmakers voted to spend $1.25 billion for that purpose, almost twice the
initial estimate.

Just
a few months later, they’re back for more. Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, chair
of the Assembly education spending committee, recently proposed sending schools
another $1.5 billion for the same purpose. If this bill passes, Common Core
will have cost California taxpayers nearly four times as much as the state told
them it would cost just three years ago.

The 2014 NEA convention has come and gone and there were no surprises.
President Dennis Van Roekel’s speech was boilerplate, trashing various
bogeymen, including “corporate reformers like Democrats for Education Reform,
Michelle Rhee, and the like.” Though Van Roekel didn’t mention Secretary of
Education Arne Duncan, the NEA did adopt the resolution which calls for Duncan
to step down. The resolution blamed Duncan for a “failed education agenda”
consisting of policies that “undermine public schools and colleges, the teaching
education professionals, and education unions.” To read more, go to http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/arne-duncan-dismiss-resignation-call-national-education-association-108615.html

Speaking of Duncan, he has unveiled a 50-state
strategy last Monday “for putting some
teeth into a requirement of the 12-year-old No Child Left Behind Act that has
gone largely unenforced up until now: ensuring that poor and minority students
get access to as many great teachers as their more advantaged peers.” So is
this move yet another federal boondoggle? An idea whose time has come? Government
overreach? All of the above? To read more about Duncan’s plan, go to http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2014/07/arne_duncan_unveils_fifty_stat.html

And finally, there are a few school choice bills that have been
flying under the radar, although the California Federation of Teachers picked
up on the blip and mentioned them on their website.

We have recently learned that Senator
Dianne Feinstein is considering two Senate bills, S. 1968 and S. 1909, that
would have a devastating impact on public education in California and around
the country.

Going into loopy mode, the union then proclaims:

These bills propose to siphon
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) funds to private schools through
a voucher system. Vouchers are nothing more than a vehicle for gutting school
funding and for ultimately denying equal access to public education.